Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. To<br><br>Manual De Santa Maria.<br><br>The soft strings of a Spanish lute one day<br>You struck, and plaintive notes gushed forth like tears.<br>Ravished I listened, and I longed to play<br>The music to another people’s ears.<br><br>You showed me all the cunning workmanship, <br>The stretching of the strings, the exquisite<br>Adjustment of the frets, the body’s dip;<br>I took the lute and tried to copy it.<br><br>Well, here it is, re-fashioned and re-strung.<br>Play on it; ah, I fear those sweet, sad airs<br>Sound cracked and harsh now, better left unsung.<br>Well, fling the lute aside and take Becquer’s!